Introduction and Guiding Principles for the LCDGT Pilot: Revised
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Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms Introduction and Guiding Principles for the Pilot May 11, 2015 Revised November 3, 2015 Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) is designed to describe the characteristics of the intended audiences of resources, and also the creators of, and contributors to, those resources. The following document provides general information on the vocabulary and describes the principles guiding the development of the pilot vocabulary. INTRODUCTION Terms from LCDGT may be assigned to both belles lettres and nonfiction, to collections and individual works, when the demographics of the intended audience and/or the creator/contributor groups are readily available. In other words, when they are clearly stated on the resource or are otherwise obvious without doing any additional research. With regard to language resources, the fact that a work is written or performed in a particular language does not mean that speakers of that language should be coded as the intended audience. Providing an audience of English speakers for every resource in the English language, for example, would quickly negate the usefulness of the demographic term. Instead, the terms for speakers of languages are chiefly used with resources specifically intended for speakers of a particular language to learn about another language (e.g., a textbook for English speakers who are learning Spanish). The same principle applies to occupations such as Poets, Composers, etc. Such terms should not be applied to every work of poetry or musical composition, respectively, because that assignment would negate the usefulness of the term. Instead, the terms should be provided on works that are outside the realm for which a person or group of people are most known. For example, a novel by a composer may be assigned Composers. Terms may be assigned in bibliographic records and in authority records for works and expressions. The MARC 21 385 field is designed for the audience, while the 386 field is for creator/contributor information. Examples: A Spanish textbook for speakers of English 385 ## $a English speakers $2 lcdgt A child’s picture book 385 ## $a Children $2 lcdgt A collection of poetry by several German authors 386 ## $a Germans $2 lcdgt A novel in which the author states in her blurb that she is a flight attendant 386 ## $a Flight attendants $a Women $2 lcdgt A manual written by a physician for caregivers 385 ## $a Caregivers $2 lcdgt 386 ## $a Physicians $2 lcdgt Full information about the use of the 385 and 386 fields in bibliographic records may be found at http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd3xx.html. Information about their use in authority records may found at http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ad1xx3xx.html. Additional information on assignment of the terms is forthcoming. PILOT The three goals of the LCDGT pilot are to indicate how LC intends to structure the vocabulary, provide consistent patterns for future development, and generate a discussion that will help inform LC as it fine- tunes the guiding principles. The selection of terms for the pilot furthers these goals: there was no attempt at comprehensiveness within the vocabulary, but representative terms from each category were included. Some terms were incorporated because they illustrate a particular problem (e.g., a conflict situation) and the solution to that problem. Phase 1 For the most part, occupational and social group terms were derived from Library of Congress subject headings in the form [class of persons] writings (e.g., Air pilots’ writings) and from the classes of persons included in the free-floating subdivisions –Conversation and phrase books for … (e.g,. – Conversation and phrase books (for homeowners)), as listed in Subject Headings Manual instruction sheet H 1154. Terms for speakers of particular languages were taken from the languages assigned in the multiple free-floating subdivisions —Textbooks for English, [French, etc.] speakers and —Textbooks for foreign speakers—German, [Italian, etc.] (H 1154). Very few language and ethnic group terms were included in the pilot because many of the LC subject headings are old and the preferred terminology may have changed over time. Each ethnic group and language will need to be individually researched before it is proposed for LCDGT. In addition, speakers of particular dialects were not included because discussion on whether to include dialects is ongoing. On the other hand, the pilot vocabulary does contain a fairly comprehensive list of terms for sexual orientations, genders, educational levels, and age groups. Some demonyms for supra-national regions, countries, first-level administrative subdivisions of countries, and regions encompassing two or more first-level administrative subdivisions were included in the pilot. The pilot includes demonyms for the residents of all of the U.S. states and Canadian provinces, and the territories of those countries. Discussions about whether to include demonyms for lower-level jurisdictions and regions (e.g., cities, counties) are ongoing, so terms for the residents of those places were not included. Also not included were demonyms for the residents of imaginary, fictional, or extraterrestrial places. The pilot terms will be approved after the principles have been vetted by the library community. LC’s Policy and Standards Division (PSD) will then undertake a second phase of development and enhance Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms: Introduction and Guiding Principles for the Pilot 2 May 11, 2015; Revised November 3, 2015 LCDGT’s scope and coverage. Since the initial development of LCGFT will take place within PSD, proposals for new and revised terms are not being accepted at this time. Finally, PSD recommends that libraries wait until the second phase of development is completed before widely implementing LCDGT in cataloging; the vocabulary is not yet robust enough to support general use. Libraries that choose to implement immediately do so at their own risk. Phase 2 In the second phase of the pilot, PSD enhanced the breadth and depth of LCDGT by continuing to add terminology based on LC subject headings in the form [class of persons] writings, the classes of persons included in the free-floating subdivisions –Conversation and phrase books for … and the languages assigned in the multiple free-floating subdivisions —Textbooks for English, [French, etc.] speakers and —Textbooks for foreign speakers—German, [Italian, etc.]. Phase 2 also included terms based on the “author group subdivisions” listed in SHM H 1156, Literatures, and the author group subdivisions established under American fiction (e.g., American fiction—Cuban American authors yielded the demographic term Cuban Americans). Also included are some terms that members of the library community requested during the open comment period for Phase 1, and numerous demonyms. Tentative List 1519, which consists of terms proposed for Phase 2, includes approximately 430 proposals for new terms. The above categories of terms, while broad, served only as the jumping-off point for further expansion as PSD explored relationships and tested the guiding principles laid out in the first phase of the pilot. As a result of that testing, some principles were revised, and revisions to approximately 40 terms approved in Phase 1 are proposed as part of Phase 2. The problems that were encountered during Phase 2 and the solutions to them are documented below. GUIDING PRINCIPLES: GENERAL With the exception of the records created for the pilot, terms should be needed for new cataloging (i.e., they should have literary warrant). In order for a demographic group to be proposed, a creator or contributor of a resource must self-identify with the group, or a resource must clearly indicate that the group is the intended audience. Furthermore, research in standard reference sources should be carried out and documented. LCDGT is not intended to be a thesaurus of every word or phrase by which a demographic group has ever been known. The terms and references should reflect current usage, and pejorative terminology should be avoided. Crowdsourced internet sites such as Wikipedia are a concern in this regard, because they may provide alternate terminology for a particular group without indicating that the terminology is offensive or obsolete. For that reason, standard dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias are the preferred reference sources, as are other standard academic sources, such as monographs and serials, newspapers, and indexing services, as well as official web sites for governments, agencies, associations, interest groups, etc. In fact, with the exception of demonyms, ethnic groups, and language groups, many of the possible demographic terms are in general use and can be found in English-language dictionaries such as Webster’s. Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms: Introduction and Guiding Principles for the Pilot 3 May 11, 2015; Revised November 3, 2015 All terms should be authorized in plural form and should be faceted – each term should refer to a discrete demographic, and terms should not be combined in pre-coordinated strings. For example, the vocabulary includes the terms Physicians and Women, but not Women physicians. It contains Refugees and Teenagers, not Teenage refugees. Terms should consist of a single word, as above, or a phrase (e.g., Gang members; People with disabilities; Lakota Indians; Japanese Americans; Children of Holocaust survivors). Authorized terms should always appear in natural-language order (College students, not “Students, College”), and may be qualified to break conflicts (Georgians (State of Georgia); Georgians (Republic of Georgia)). Categories and Broader Terms Every term should be assigned to at least one of the categories defined on the Library of Congress’ web page at http://www.loc.gov/standards/valuelist/lcdgt.html. The category code collocates the terms in that category. On occasion, demographic groups are intrinsically members of two or more categories and may be assigned more than one code. The categories are provided here for convenience:# Age group [age] Use for the chronological age of the group members (e.g., infants, children, adults).